Flexibility has it's rewards

For the past couple of days, Paul and I have been trying to get up to the village. However, it seems that every afternoon when we should be loading up the car to go, something delays us and we have to put the village off another day. While we've certainly learned the value of flexibility in the past year and a half, it can still be rather frustrating to have our plans and expectations constantly "thwarted". Yesterday, as per tradition, something came up which prevented us from getting to the village, however as it turned out we were not frustrated but blessed by the experience.

One of our friends, a national Foursquare pastor who lives a couple hours away was at a hospital here in the Chiang Rai with his wife. We were glad to find out that she had not been admitted, but simply had an appointment with a specialist. His wife has a thyroid condition and would appreciate your prayers.

In Asia, if someone is in town, you take the time to see them despite your own "plans and expectations". So we hopped in the car to join them at the hospital. We had a great time catching up with them while they waited for her medications and offered to give them a ride back to the bus station.

They gladly accepted the ride, but politely asked if we could stop by Big C on the way. Big C is kind of like Super Walmart or Super Target in The States. However, instead of being a stand alone store, Big C's are usually located in a mall (for lack of a better word) which also has many smaller stores and restaurants. When we are in Chiang Rai, we frequent Big C and indulge in KFC, Dairy Queen, or even Auntie Anne's Pretzels.

When we stepped through the automated sliding glass doors, it was obvious that our friend's wife & 9 year old daughter had never seen anything like it. They live in a small rural town with nothing even resembling the "big city" atmosphere of a Big C. The little girl's eyes popped and sparkled as if she were at an amusement park and the mom's eyes glazed over at the frenzy of lights, noise and crowds. As they approached the escalator both mom and daughter viewed it with trepidation and wonder. Luckily, dad knew his way around and led his family proudly through the exciting chaos. We left the family to their shopping and grabbed a Lemon Frost from Black Canyon Coffee while we waited.